The Luftwaffe will close its Panavia flight training center Tornado located at the Holloman air base in Alamogordo, New Mexico, by the end of the 2019. The training will be transferred home to the Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader (Tactical Air Force Squadron) 51 'Immelmann', in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. The defense cuts require this decision.
"The Luftwaffe expects considerable savings in terms of personnel, material and money, as well as shortening the logistic queue, moving the training on the Tornadoes in Germany".
Holloman's base has been used since the 1992, first for the F-4F Phantom II and, from the 1996, for i Tornado. The training center was run by German 500 and US 30. The contract with the United States will be canceled this year, while the last training course will be completed by next autumn. Maintenance activities will continue until the middle of the 2018.
(photo: Bundeswehr)
